The present invention relates generally to furniture hinges, and more particularly, to a mounting plate for mounting a hinge on a furniture article, such as a desk of cabinet, which in turn supports a door on the furniture article.
In the cabinetry industry, a typical construction feature, for example, in cabinets which are provided with doors, is a face frame on which the door is supported and hinged. The face frame members are affixed, for example, to an opening in the cabinet, and a pair of concealed hinges are affixed to an edge one of the face frame members and the door. Typically, the face frame member to which the hinges are affixed is made of a relatively strong material, such as hardwood, and has a thickness in the range, for example of about one-half inch up to about three-fourths inch. A customary mounting method of affixing the concealed hinge to the face frame member utilizes a hinge mounting plate which is positioned on an edge of the face frame member and fastened to the face frame member with one or more fasteners, such as fastening screws, inserted through one or more openings in the mounting plate and into, for example, one or more corresponding pre-drilled holes in the face frame member. Alternatively, the face frame may be omitted entirely, for example, in frameless cabinets, and the hinge plate may be affixed directly to an edge of a cabinet wall member in a substantially similar way.
The customary method of affixing concealed hinges works well, for example, on cabinet components made of relatively strong materials, such as hardwood. However, serious problems are encountered when attempts are made to employ the customary method of affixing concealed hinges, for example, to less expensive materials, which are not as strong as hardwood. One such material is a panel product manufactured from lignocellulosic fibers combined with a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, commonly known as medium density fiberboard (MDF). MDF panels thinner than one-half inch are typically used, for example, for siding, and most of the thicker MDF panels (one-half to three-fourths inch) have generally been used as core materials for furniture panels. In recent years, however, use of finished MDF panels, for example, in cabinetry has become common in the manufactured or mobile home industry.
Attempts to employ the customary method of affixing concealed hinges in cabinetry by the manufactured home or mobile home industry, where MDF is now in relatively common use has met with mixed results. Reasons for the lack of success in the manufactured home or mobile home industry include, for example, that when fasteners such as fastening screws are used at or near an edge of a MDF cabinet panel component, such as a face frame member, which ranges in thickness from about one-half inch to about five-eighths inch up to about three-fourths inch, the pre-drilling of a fastener hole in the panel and/or inserting the fastener in the fastener hole tends to cause the panel component to weaken or split, so that in any event there is little or no resistance to withdrawal of the fastener from the fastener hole. Thus, the fastener tends to pull out of the cabinet component under the weight of the door supported by the hinge.
It is a feature and advantage of the present invention to provide a furniture hinge for a mounting plate which is inexpensive to make, easy to use, and which enables use, for example, of concealed, edge-mounted type hinges on relatively weak cabinet components, such as MDF panels.
To achieve the stated and other features, advantages and objects of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention provides a mounting plate for a furniture hinge which includes, for example, a hinge plate with front and rear opposing edges which is pivotably connected to a hinge component, such as a hinge cup, on a pivot axis or pivot pin. At least one front support member depends from the front edge of the hinge plate that is spaced a predetermined radial distance from the pivot axis. The distance by which the front support member depends from the hinge plate is determined by the predetermined radial distance between the front support member and the pivot axis on which the hinge plate is pivotably connected to the hinge component. In an embodiment of the invention, the front support member depends a distance from the hinge plate that less than the predetermined radial distance between the front support member and the pivot axis, and preferably a distance that is not greater than three-fourths of the predetermined radial distance between the front support member and the pivot axis. Alternatively, the at least one front support member comprises a pair of front support legs depending from the front edge of the hinge plate.
In addition, according to an embodiment of the invention, at least one opposing rear support member depends from the rear edge of the hinge plate a distance that is at least as great as the distance by which the front support member depends from the hinge plate, and preferably the rear support member depends from the rear edge of the hinge plate a distance that is at least one and three-fourths times the distance by which the front support member depends from the hinge plate. Further, at least one fastener opening is formed in either or both of the hinge plate and the at least one rear support member, and the front and rear support members are adapted to confront opposing sides of a cabinet member on which the mounting plate is installed and to cooperatively provide subjacent lateral support for the cabinet member when a fastener received through the fastener opening is inserted into the cabinet member.
In an alternate embodiment, the at least one opposing rear support member comprises a pair of rear support legs depending from the rear edge of the hinge plate with a fastener opening formed in each of the rear support legs. Further, the fastener opening formed in each of the rear support legs can be open to a distal edge of the respective support legs. Instead of, or in addition to, having fastener openings formed in the rear support legs, one or more fastener openings can be formed in the hinge plate, and the fastener opening or openings formed in the hinge plate can have an elongate shape.
In the foregoing embodiments, the hinge plate has a hinge arm formed on its front edge that is pivotably connected to the hinge component on the pivot axis via a hinge pin. However, an alternate embodiment includes a multiple adjustment aspect in which the hinge plate is connected to the hinge component via an intermediate member slideably connected to the hinge plate, and a hinge arm member is pivotably connected to the intermediate member via a pivot pin and also pivotably connected to the hinge component on the pivot axis via a hinge pin. In this aspect, the intermediate member is slideably connected to the hinge plate via a pair of L-shaped bent projections on the hinge plate that form a channel slideably receiving the intermediate member and an eccentric screw received through an elongate aperture formed in the intermediate member and into an aperture formed in the hinge plate. Thus, turning the cam screw causes the intermediate member and the hinge arm member connected to the intermediate member via the pivot pin to move relative to the hinge plate slideably in the channel formed between the L-shaped bent projections on the hinge plate.
Further, in the multiple adjustment aspect, the hinge arm member is pivotably connected to the intermediate member on a pivot axis via a pin fastened through the hinge arm member and the intermediate member and an adjustment screw received through apertures formed in the hinge arm member and in the intermediate member. Thus, turning the adjustment screw causes the hinge arm member to move relative to the intermediate member arcuately about the pivot pin connecting the hinge arm member to the intermediate member.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part with become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention.